This book was written and illustrated by Cicely Mary Barker who lived in Croydon.Her sister Dorothy ran a nursery.All the fairies are portraits of real children who went to the nursery.The Wild Thyme Fairy was Sheila Evans.She was the daughter of the vicar at St Andrews Church.

Sheila Glyn Jones

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Sheila Glyn Jones

Sheila talks about being a flower fairy model:

"Everything had to be deadly accurate with Cicely and she had this big chest full of dressing up things - wings and drapes and all. She was so nice and she never expected you to stand still for too long.

We weren't all pretty, she didn't really go for that, she went for the nice children, and for features."

"Gladys and her family lived not very far away - they were very poor and Gladys had the most lovely little face. And she chose Gladys for 6 of her little fairies. And when Gladys was to be a little flower fairy model she was allowed in through the front door, but when she was being the tweenie, which she did for a shilling on a Saturday, scrubbing floors and polishing steps, then she had to go down the back stairs,the kitchen stairs."

"I think it was the fact that she used real people that made her pictures so popular. Cicely's fairies were very down to earth."

Painting Fairies

Cicely was one of the best known children's book illustrators of her day.She taught herself to draw as she was unable to attend school.

Cicely was influenced by the huge popular interest in fairies.Queen Mary enjoyed sending the postcardsshowing fairies to her friends. Her books were published after the horror of the First World War.The public were charmed by Cicely's vision of hope and innocence,suggesting a less aggressively modern world.

Find out more

To find out more about Cicley Mary Barker
read Shelia Glyn-Jones' book
Cicely Mary Barker: a Croydon artist.

Available on loan from
Croydon Libraries
and to buy in most
good book shops.